High speed tool steel articles including intermediate articles of rod and bar and finished articles such as tool bits and the like, must be characterized by good wear resistance for high speed cutting applications as well as good tool life. Wear resistance in high speed tool steels is a function generally of a dispersion of hard, wear resistant material, typically carbides of carbide forming elements such as vanadium, tungsten and molybdenum. Nitrides may also be present for this purpose. The higher the content of the dispersion of hard, wear resistant material the better will be the wear resistance of the article made therefrom. As the dispersion is increased, however, it tends to cause embrittlement of the article, which impairs the tool life. Specifically, after repeated use in high speed cutting applications and the like the article will fail as by cracking. By the use of powder metallurgy techniques to produce high speed tool steel articles, such as by hot isostatic compacting prealloyed powders thereof, combinations of high density and fine, uniform carbide dispersions have been obtained to achieve improved combinations of tool life and wear resistance during high speed cutting applications. Nevertheless, at extremely high concentrations of the hard, wear resistant material, such as carbides, tool life is impaired.